Jump to content

The "da Vinci Challenge" has Begun!


Redwing_dave

Recommended Posts

Or Knight's end could be when the pope and the king captured a bunch of Knight's Templars on Friday the 13th and tortured all of them, making them confess to things they probably didn't commit. Look at me, here I am camping on the beach, and studying these coins, encryptions, ciphers, DaVinci, etc etc. My boss is actually a Knight's Templar as part of the Mason's, so I have him interested in solving this too!!! At any rate, this has been fun, frustrating, and the coins are awesome!

Link to comment

Or Knight's end could be when the pope and the king captured a bunch of Knight's Templars on Friday the 13th and tortured all of them, making them confess to things they probably didn't commit. Look at me, here I am camping on the beach, and studying these coins, encryptions, ciphers, DaVinci, etc etc. My boss is actually a Knight's Templar as part of the Mason's, so I have him interested in solving this too!!! At any rate, this has been fun, frustrating, and the coins are awesome!

 

I was thinking along those lines too, but everything I tried in that direction came up empty. :smile:

Link to comment

The only little bit further I got before shaking my head at my own ineptitude was with "Follow Knights End". Night's end would be dawn, so it'd be the equivalent to "go West young cacher".

(Dave - was I close? :unsure: )

 

No, the "Knights" definitely is the "K" kind, not the "Night-time." However, "go West young cacher" may not be such a bad idea..... :D

Link to comment

Status update - Myself and Leonardo are off to Alaska until July 17th. We will most likely not be responding to this thread or to emails during that time. We still do not have a winner for the contest. Make sure to get your entries in by July 20th. Remember, one coin set will go to the person who comes closest to solving the puzzle, and a second coin set will be given randomly to one person who emails "ANY" answer to the question (wrong or right). Entries after July 20th will not be accepted. Make sure when you email a response, to send it to the email mentioned at the beginning of this thread; please don't send through GC.com. I'm keeping these emails separate for ease in determining the winners.

 

Good luck, and I'll talk to you all in about 3 weeks.

 

-RD :laughing:

Link to comment

If the numbers on the Paris Meridian Geocoin are lattitude and longitude, then I'm diving and looking for shipwrecks. I'm pretty sure I'm on the wrong track here. Glub Glub Glub. :D

 

OK. I made a subtle adjustment in my calculations, and ... I'm still swimming with the fishies. :D

 

Well, maybe I added where I should have subtracted? BZZT! Wrong again, Criswell :D

 

Did anybody notice that the last three numbers on the first set appear to be larger than the others. Is this meaningful, or just part of the casting process? Haven't found any sunken ships at those coordinates.

Link to comment

Can I get confirmation of the numerals on the Paris Meridian Geocoin?

 

36365014 161869885

 

Are these correct? My issue is with the imprint of the 5th & 6th digit in the 161 sequence....

Thanx

 

The numbers you have listed are correct!

:D

 

RD has already verified that these numbers are correct. Now then, what they actually represent is a whole different thing...

Link to comment

If the numbers on the Paris Meridian Geocoin are lattitude and longitude, then I'm diving and looking for shipwrecks. I'm pretty sure I'm on the wrong track here. Glub Glub Glub. :D

 

OK. I made a subtle adjustment in my calculations, and ... I'm still swimming with the fishies. :D

 

Well, maybe I added where I should have subtracted? BZZT! Wrong again, Criswell :D

 

Did anybody notice that the last three numbers on the first set appear to be larger than the others. Is this meaningful, or just part of the casting process? Haven't found any sunken ships at those coordinates.

 

We noticed but not sure if there is any significance. Sorry not more helpful. :D We have tried in reverse still nothing of significance established.

Link to comment

If the numbers on the Paris Meridian Geocoin are lattitude and longitude, then I'm diving and looking for shipwrecks. I'm pretty sure I'm on the wrong track here. Glub Glub Glub. ;)

 

OK. I made a subtle adjustment in my calculations, and ... I'm still swimming with the fishies. ;)

 

Well, maybe I added where I should have subtracted? BZZT! Wrong again, Criswell :o

 

Did anybody notice that the last three numbers on the first set appear to be larger than the others. Is this meaningful, or just part of the casting process? Haven't found any sunken ships at those coordinates.

 

We noticed but not sure if there is any significance. Sorry not more helpful. ;) We have tried in reverse still nothing of significance established.

 

There is no significance to the size of the last three numbers. In fact I didn't even notice a difference myself until it was pointed out to me in this forum.

 

Well, I'm back from Alaska now. Leonardo has received quite a few responses in his email account. Leonardo and I don't have time to confirm each email individually, but we are keeping track of them. Remember that tomorrow (7/20) is the last day to submit solutions/entries to davincicoins@hotmail.com. As a reminder, one copper set will go to the person/team with the largest portion of the puzzle solved, and a second copper set will be drawn randomly from all entries, regardless of whether the solution is correct or just a stab in the dark.

Link to comment

My son wanted me to ask if there is any significance in the fact that the Vitruvian man is labeled as simply a "coin" while the other two are clearly named "geocoin"?

 

Your son has a good eye. :rolleyes: Unfortunately, the only significance this has is that I was so meticulous about getting all of the encryptions perfect, that I overlooked this inconsistency in the naming. Oooops.

Link to comment

Glad you returned safely. Know answer is due in morning. Will be first full night of rest since Challenge started. Hope you had better luck fishing than we did solving.

Glad to hear you'll be getting sleep again.

 

Fishing was hit and miss. The Silver Salmon fishing was super. Unfortunately the Kings decided not to run upstream, so that outing wasn't as successful. I guess that's why they calling Fishing, not Catching.

Link to comment

After a huge delay (sorry about that)......

I can finally announce the winners of the da Vinci Challenge!

 

First off, no one solved the complete puzzle, and GPXNavigator is correct, that I will not be revealing the full solution, I will however give a few clues (read to the bottom).

 

The winner of the Copper Set for the closest answer is RangeroverNV for identifying that Leonardo's final resting place is the St. Hubert Chapel. This is just one part of the multipart solution, but it's more than anyone else got. (Maybe I made this a little too hard...)

 

The Winner of the Random drawing is Drew8 from Texas. This was determined the old fashioned way, by writing names on slips of paper, and drawing them from a cardboard box (don't have a hat with me right now, so I'm using the resources I have present).

 

Congratulations to both of the winners. I will mail their Copper da Vinci coins out shortly. Thank you everyone for your participation! I know a lot of you put a lot of time into this challenge, and I hope that you feel like you have learned something, and that you have something to take away from this contest even if you didn't win.

 

As for the solution, you now know that "St. Hubert Chapel being the final resting place of Leonardo" is one part of the solution. There are at least a few more parts (I'm not saying the actual number; there are several clues regarding the number of parts you're looking for). Hopefully this will get you started. Essentially, you are looking for a number of locations, and the events, people, or physical structures that make those locations important. Figuring out those locations will take some knowledge of history, a lot of decyphering, and some navigational skills. That's about all that I'm obliged to share right now.

 

Once again, I can't thank you all enough for your participation. Congrats to our winners. :rolleyes:

 

-RD

Link to comment

After a huge delay (sorry about that)......

I can finally announce the winners of the da Vinci Challenge!

 

First off, no one solved the complete puzzle, and GPXNavigator is correct, that I will not be revealing the full solution, I will however give a few clues (read to the bottom).

 

The winner of the Copper Set for the closest answer is RangeroverNV for identifying that Leonardo's final resting place is the St. Hubert Chapel. This is just one part of the multipart solution, but it's more than anyone else got. (Maybe I made this a little too hard...)

 

The Winner of the Random drawing is Drew8 from Texas. This was determined the old fashioned way, by writing names on slips of paper, and drawing them from a cardboard box (don't have a hat with me right now, so I'm using the resources I have present).

 

Congratulations to both of the winners. I will mail their Copper da Vinci coins out shortly. Thank you everyone for your participation! I know a lot of you put a lot of time into this challenge, and I hope that you feel like you have learned something, and that you have something to take away from this contest even if you didn't win.

 

As for the solution, you now know that "St. Hubert Chapel being the final resting place of Leonardo" is one part of the solution. There are at least a few more parts (I'm not saying the actual number; there are several clues regarding the number of parts you're looking for). Hopefully this will get you started. Essentially, you are looking for a number of locations, and the events, people, or physical structures that make those locations important. Figuring out those locations will take some knowledge of history, a lot of decyphering, and some navigational skills. That's about all that I'm obliged to share right now.

 

Once again, I can't thank you all enough for your participation. Congrats to our winners. :blink:

 

-RD

Thanks for a great contest. Still working on solutions. :blink:

Link to comment

Hi there, still having fun with this puzzle. Would the stars on the back of the Knights Templar Coin be the constellation Leo Minor???

 

I know the contest is over but would love some feedback!

 

Still going for it.

 

Thanks Nicadimous, SDKonkle's Wife

 

No, not Leo Minor, but their positioning is important to solving the puzzles.

-RD

Link to comment

I apologize in advance for voicing my opinion on the "da Vinci Challenge". We coughed up the money for the 3 coins, got our whole family involved in this "puzzle". Spent months researching it. In the beginning it was fun, we learned a lot of history. But frustration set in big time. The contest is long over so what would be the harm in a little feedback from the originator????? It looks like a lot of other people are still trying to ferret through all of the clues and nonclues, so why not a little input? It was a brilliant idea but it is time to put us out of our misery, even just a little bit. When you start something like this, you are obligated to follow it through to the end, not just leave it hanging out there in cyberspace. "Taking the answer to the grave" is shucking responsibility to all of the people that bought in to this game. :rolleyes:

Link to comment

Have been trying to work on the letters on the back of the 'Vitruvian Man' coin, but have come up with nothing. However, I'm intrigued at the fact that on the front side of the coin, the quote 'A deep red route, do be mute, nor us again' contains 31 letters, the same number of letters represented on the back. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

G'day 17yam. Not sure if it is a map of Europe, although if it is it wouldn't be there without a reason.

Link to comment

It is sad to see that customers of this coin can't even get help from the original creator of the coin. Sounds like a waste of money if you can't even get the creator to answer this thread and the questions have been flying for over 7 months.

 

Thanks for the slander. Boy, that's what I miss the most about not visiting the forums for so long. :laughing: There always seems to be somebody whose greatest joy in life is muck-raking...glad its not me.

 

Anyway, for anyone discontented by my not revealing the answer, I apologize, but please remember that at the very beginning of the challenge I issued this statement:

 

"Just so we're all clear on this, if no one solves the puzzle during the allotted time, I don't plan to reveal the answer. It will go unsolved until someone figures it out. The July 20th deadline is just to make sure I don't take the coins to the grave with me. I may take the solution to this puzzle to the grave with me. Leonardo's life wouldn't be nearly as intriguing if it was all spelled out for us, so in his honor I don't plan to spell out this puzzle either. Good Luck. It's up to you...."

 

I apologize if this rubs some of you the wrong way, but I have been straight from the get go. For the record, I have been extremely swamped in academic endeavors that, unlike this challenge, directly impact my real life (not just my cyberlife). I have also had a fairly long bout with serious illness that I don't care to discuss with current company. I haven't had a chance to visit this forum for several months, nor have I even had a chance to open my email account associated with my GC.com account. As for the suggestion that there "Is no answer to the coins, as suggested by the fact that I haven't visited the forums in over a year", I assure you that there is an answer. As for my long absence, check out my profile and see when I last logged a cache...it's not because I don't love caching, and its not because this challenge was a gimmick, its because sometimes a little bit of re-prioritization is necessary in life. If an apology is necessary for "wasting peoples money" because I've stuck with my predisclosed plan, and because my life has been very busy and frought with illness, then I guess I'm sorry. :P

 

I'm not promising to visit the forums more often, as the cogs still seem to be moving in life at a very fast pace, but I will try to answer some of the burning questions out there:

1-Yes there are definite answers to this challenge as I stated before!

2-Yes, there is a map of Europe in the background of the vitruvian coin, and it is significant to the solution (although the resolution isn't great on the map, I promise all the detail you need is there, and apparent).

3-The 31 letters on the front and the back is merely a coincidence; something that I in fact had not noticed before, but I find it kind of cool now that I know of it...balance is a good thing.

4-At the conclusion of the first round, I was considering a 4th coin to provide additional hints regarding the solution, but after being accused of wasting people's money, I will probably not issue a 4th coin, cause I'd hate to put time and effort into something that may be viewed as just "a wild goose chase designed to get as much public interest involved so that the owner could sell his coins and make money."

5-The relative location of the spear-tips on the "Knights Templar" coin is IMPORTANT, as are the locations of the stars, and the fact that one of the the markings on the rim is not EXACTLY a star.

6-The 3 phrases on the front of the Vitruvian Man coin are anagrams, but they're not simple anagrams...it is necessary to decode the anagrams using a fairly common method. Somewhere on the coins is a hint about the manner of decoding, but you'll have to find that yourself.

 

Well, that seems to be about enough clues for right now. Although it has been expressed that "When you start something like this, you are obligated to follow it through to the end, not just leave it hanging out there in cyberspace. 'Taking the answer to the grave' is shucking responsibility to all of the people that bought in to this game", I personally have a different opinion. I don't feel that I am bound by any cyber-laws to dole out hints for the rest of my life. I think I'm a pretty nice guy, and I'd love to help anyone out, but not because I feel that I have a cyber-obligation in direct contrast to my own disclaimers prior to the beginning of this challenge or the sell of any coins. I have fulfilled the promises I laid on the table at the beginning of this challenge...the coins didn't come with a lifetime guarantee of my time and effort to assist you until you solve the challenge. I have stayed true to my word, and I feel no shame in that.

 

I'm sure I offended someone here. That was not my purpose. I appreciate all of the people that have taken part in the challenge, and their efforts and past praises. I will do my best to check in more regular to answer any questions that might be lingering. In return, I would hope that you might return the favor, and lean towards giving the benefit of the doubt. It really makes for a happier world.

 

-RD

Link to comment

Thanks for that RD. I think I speak for most who have visited these forums in the past few months thats it's great to see you back on this forum and answering a few questions that people have had.....great response by the way. I know that my comments were in no way intended to be harmful, I was just casually throwing up another suggestion as to the long absence that you had, and was simply trying to generate more interest among people to help each other solve these mysterious coins. Even without the puzzle element, these coins are far from 'a waste of money', and were worth every cent I paid for them. As an avid Leonardo fan, I bought a set of the copper coins this year without knowing about the competition side of things, but have been hooked on the puzzle element of them ever since, and am grateful for your effort in both producing these coins and answering mine and other peoples questions.

 

With that, I will ask just one more question for now if you're feeling really generous, and that is.....are the random letters on the back of the Vitruvian Coin a cipher of sorts. I assume that they are. This is the one element of the puzzle I have been working on for a while now...and I obviously can't get it to go. I tried almost every cipher I can think of, so I am leaning towards a multi level cipher.

 

A couple of things I would like to share based on a few ideas I've had over the last few months, starting with the symbols on the front of the knights templar coin.

 

Based on pure symbology, the apple could represent youth, and if so, could be implying Leonardo learning his craft in Verocchio's workshop so something similar...the treasure chest with LdV on it could be 'Leonardo's Treasure' in which he described as 'The Mona Lisa'...the sword ...wisdom...and the skull...death or burial as in ST Hubert's Chapel which has already been mentioned.

 

On the back on the coin, the stars stand over certain letters, and the ones that jump out at me are MVP, as in Marcus Vitruvius Polio', although that would leave the 'T'. Likewise, the three stars and sun could be hovering over certain letters, or could be align with the numbers on a clock face...eg sun=12 or 6.

 

The Paris Meridian coin has depicted on it a design of a mausoleum, more specifically, the Santa Maria delle Grazie, which ironically is where Leonardo painted 'The Last Supper' in the refectory.

 

Well...that's probably enough for now. If none of these answers are close, at least hopefully I've inspired some others to rejuvenate their interest again.

 

Thanks again RD for the coins, and look forward to someday before I die, finding out a few of these answers.

 

Cheers M.V.

Edited by Marcus Vitruvius
Link to comment

Very sorry to hear that you have been facing rough "Challenges" of your own. We all get single minded in our endeavors and often forget that other people have lives too. So for my impatience, I apologize. There are really two topics involved: the coins and the Challenge. We bought a set of your wonderful coins and are glad to have them. The challenge has been a different matter. With your recent set of clues, I guess I will be getting back to the research. If you would be willing, a little hint now and again to keep us all on track would be greatly appreciated. From all of the clues on the coins, you can go in a hundred different directions and be certain that you are in the right spot only to find five other crossroads.

 

Hope things take an upturn for you.

 

2 Blind Squirrels

Link to comment

I am leaning towards a multi level cipher.

 

Based on pure symbology, the apple could represent youth, and if so, could be implying Leonardo learning his craft in Verocchio's workshop so something similar...the treasure chest with LdV on it could be 'Leonardo's Treasure' in which he described as 'The Mona Lisa'...the sword ...wisdom...and the skull...death or burial as in ST Hubert's Chapel which has already been mentioned.

 

On the back on the coin, the stars stand over certain letters, and the ones that jump out at me are MVP, as in Marcus Vitruvius Polio', although that would leave the 'T'. Likewise, the three stars and sun could be hovering over certain letters, or could be align with the numbers on a clock face...eg sun=12 or 6.

 

The Paris Meridian coin has depicted on it a design of a mausoleum, more specifically, the Santa Maria delle Grazie, which ironically is where Leonardo painted 'The Last Supper' in the refectory.

 

Cheers M.V.

 

Thanks to everyone for the kind regards. I didn't mean to over-react in my initial "coming back" post. Thanks for being understanding. Things continue to be a struggle, but I'm hoping for an up-swing soon. Thought I'd stop by and answer some questions. M.V. had some VERY good observations in his post, so I chopped them out to comment on them.

 

Regarding the Cipher, I think you've got a good idea there Marcus

 

The second paragraph above has some nice observations in it. I really liked the parts about Verocchio's Workshop and Leonardo's Treasure. (That's all I'm gonna say about that right now.)

 

I like what you're trying to do with the star placement, but you're not quite there yet.

 

The mention of Santa Maria delle Grazie is once again very good. I'd recommend comparing the depiction of the mausoleum on the coin closely to pictures or drawings of the mausoleum.

 

Hope I haven't spilled the beans, but I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing to go on after some very strong effort.

-Dave

Link to comment

I am leaning towards a multi level cipher.

 

Based on pure symbology, the apple could represent youth, and if so, could be implying Leonardo learning his craft in Verocchio's workshop so something similar...the treasure chest with LdV on it could be 'Leonardo's Treasure' in which he described as 'The Mona Lisa'...the sword ...wisdom...and the skull...death or burial as in ST Hubert's Chapel which has already been mentioned.

 

On the back on the coin, the stars stand over certain letters, and the ones that jump out at me are MVP, as in Marcus Vitruvius Polio', although that would leave the 'T'. Likewise, the three stars and sun could be hovering over certain letters, or could be align with the numbers on a clock face...eg sun=12 or 6.

 

The Paris Meridian coin has depicted on it a design of a mausoleum, more specifically, the Santa Maria delle Grazie, which ironically is where Leonardo painted 'The Last Supper' in the refectory.

 

Cheers M.V.

 

Thanks to everyone for the kind regards. I didn't mean to over-react in my initial "coming back" post. Thanks for being understanding. Things continue to be a struggle, but I'm hoping for an up-swing soon. Thought I'd stop by and answer some questions. M.V. had some VERY good observations in his post, so I chopped them out to comment on them.

 

Regarding the Cipher, I think you've got a good idea there Marcus

 

The second paragraph above has some nice observations in it. I really liked the parts about Verocchio's Workshop and Leonardo's Treasure. (That's all I'm gonna say about that right now.)

 

I like what you're trying to do with the star placement, but you're not quite there yet.

 

The mention of Santa Maria delle Grazie is once again very good. I'd recommend comparing the depiction of the mausoleum on the coin closely to pictures or drawings of the mausoleum.

 

Hope I haven't spilled the beans, but I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing to go on after some very strong effort.

-Dave

I for one appreciate your coins and efforts. Everyone knew from outset there might never be a full understanding. Marcus Vitruvius communicated with me after acquiring coins. We both agreed to continue trying to determine full meaning. Just this last week I checked out another book on Knights Templar because of interest created by this challenge. Thank you for relenting a bit with a few more suggestions. I intend to keep my coins as they represent one of the highlights of geocaching. We are going to use as instructional tools for a planned introduction to geocaching. Should you decide on production of another coin please sign me up. This challenge was priceless!!

Link to comment

I for one appreciate your coins and efforts. Everyone knew from outset there might never be a full understanding. Marcus Vitruvius communicated with me after acquiring coins. We both agreed to continue trying to determine full meaning. Just this last week I checked out another book on Knights Templar because of interest created by this challenge. Thank you for relenting a bit with a few more suggestions. I intend to keep my coins as they represent one of the highlights of geocaching. We are going to use as instructional tools for a planned introduction to geocaching. Should you decide on production of another coin please sign me up. This challenge was priceless!!

 

Thanks for the kind words. You bring up a point that has been rattling around in my brain since the beginning of this whole thing: should I do a 4th coin? Obviously, from my prior posts, you can tell that my life is a bit chaotic right now, so it might take awhile, but I already have some preliminary sketches that I started over a year ago. I found myself holding back on my reply to M.V.'s post, because I didn't want to eliminate that option. However, the last thing I want is for people to think I'm just doing it to make a buck, and that it's not a sincere effort. So, I'll leave it to the people to decide. Let your voice be heard. If you'd like a 4th coin with additional clues to help solve the challenge, let it be known. Likewise, if you'd prefer that there not be a 4th coin, please do the same. If the good people of geocaching would like a 4th coin, I'll refine my sketches and get that ball rolling as time is available. If not, I'll keep my sketches to myself.

 

I look forward to your input.

 

Thanks,

Dave

Link to comment

Thanks for the reply RD. Like so many I'm sure, I'm a big fan of anything LdV, so the thought of another coin makes my whole body tingle. :santa: As similarly mentioned previously, these coins are also the treasure trove of my geocoin collection. I was wondering if there were any coins out there with Leonardo on them, and when I saw these coins for sale on ebay, I was pretty much prepared to pay anything to get them. Initially I thought the cryptic designs were just a very cool way of portraying the enigmatic ways of LdV. When I found out that there were actual puzzles to solve, it seems I can't stop now until all is revealed. :rolleyes:

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...